This invention relates to a safety valve assembly for pressure medium operated consumer devices, particularly clutch and brake devices for presses, of the kind comprising a housing containing an inlet port, a consumer port and a return port for a pressure medium, a pair of parallel-connected directional control valves arranged for controlling the connection between respective ports, each of the directional control valves including a working space, a piston movable in the working space, and a valve member coupled to the piston, a pair of separate bores for guiding the valve members, and a pair of passages cross-connecting the bores to each other, and a pair of for example electromagnetically controlled, preliminary control valves assigned to the respective directional control valves and each having a valve seat connected to the working space. A safety valve assembly of the aforedescribed type has been described in detail in the parent application Ser. No. 969,482, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,225, and is designed in such a manner that in the event of a malfunction virtually no residual pressure remains in the connection to the consumer device. In addition, provisions are made in the design of the valve assembly according to the parent application that an erroneous connection be detected and the device disconnected. For this purpose, pressure switches have been employed which in the case of a malfunction or an erroneous connection of the safety valve assembly assume different switching positions, whereby an error signal is generated by means of electrical switches which are used for disconnection of the consumer device. The disadvantage of this solution, however, is the fact that additional means, such as the pressure switches, electrical switches and the like, are necessary for performing the desired function.